1. Technical Field
Embodiments generally relate to platform power management. More particularly, embodiments relate to the management of power delivery policies between platforms and devices that communicate with one another over one or more busses.
2. Discussion
Conventional peripheral busses such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394 busses may deliver power from platforms to connected devices in a constrained way, without consideration for or use of a platform-level power delivery/consumption policy. Rather, power might be provisioned by either ensuring that the platform's source can supply a specified maximum for all bus ports, or by making assumptions as to user activity coupled with a reliance on over-current protection mechanisms to prevent overloads. Simply put, such a lack of a full and accurate picture of the platform's ability—which can be dynamic—to supply power to peripheral busses may cause platforms to be over provisioned, leading to increased cost, or under provisioned, leading to a poor user experience. Indeed, under provisioning could result in an inability to power devices, or even platform malfunction.